Atenojenes

It has now come out that the whole spy swap was something the government had been considering some weeks before the arrest of the 10 (or 11) spies recently arrested. It will later come out - I predict - that some guy named Atenojenes coordinated the swap from the Netherlands. Don't ask me how I know these things.

Lech Kaczynski

The President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, and his wife perished in a plane crash early this morning. The accident didn't need to happen. It seems the pilot disregarded instructions from the control tower at Smolensk (Russia) which advised him to land at the Minsk or Moscow airports, which are not all that far from Smolensk. The military airstrip where he was to land was shrouded in fog and visibility was near zero. Why did he take such a big risk? Was he trying to show off? On January 10, 2010, a similar fate befell Moises Saba Masri because his helicopter pilot was flying in dense fog near Mexico City. Of course we don't want to always be scared of what might happen but taking unnecessary risks is not a good thing, especially if your passengers include the President of a country.

Coercion and Extortion

From a news a story on the net: “Russia's decision to choke off natural gas supplies to a shivering Western Europe couldn't have come at a worse moment — and that's just as Moscow would have it. As icy temperatures chill European households normally heated by Russian gas, a diplomatic race is underway to resolve the Russo-Ukraine dispute behind the cut. Moscow seems in no hurry. Wednesday marked the second straight day that many European nations received but a trickle of Russian gas pumped via Ukrainian pipelines. Ukraine is pivotal to Europe's gas supply; about 80% of Russian gas normally flows through Ukraine, and Russia provides 25% of Europe's gas.” I say this is a ridiculous situation for the Europeans. All they really have to do is wear more and heavier clothing, no? I don’t really know. This is no time for high hemlines though.

They own us

From Yahoo! News: Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) – “The global recession is re-exposing fissures in U.S.-China relations that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson spent more than two years smoothing over. Heightened tensions between China and the U.S. may worsen a contraction in world trade that already threatens to deepen and prolong the economic downturn. The friction comes as President-elect Barack Obama readies a two-year stimulus package worth as much as $850 billion that will require the U.S. to borrow more than ever from China, the largest buyer of Treasury securities.” Tell me something I don’t already know. I said this was the situation two months ago. I think Bloomberg is stealing from my blog!!!! Please. No matter what, the woman at left is optimistic. You can tell by the hemline.

Kasparov arrest

If you follow the news, you already know about this, but in case you don't and in case you care, here it is:

“At least 100 people were arrested Sunday at opposition protests in two major Russian cities organized by Kremlin critic and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, police and witnesses said. Dozens were detained and forced into police buses at Triumfalnaya Square in central Moscow, where Kasparov and other activists had planned to hold an unsanctioned "Dissenter's March," an AFP journalist said. The arrests came a day after Kasparov and fellow government critics launched a new opposition group, Solidarity, and vowed to "dismantle" the regime of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Several hundred yards away on Pushkin Square an AFP photographer saw about 15 elderly people who said they were retired military officers being detained by police as they prepared to head for the march. "Around 90 people were detained," police spokesman Viktor Biryukov told AFP, adding they may face administrative measures, a term that usually means fines. The detained activists included writer Eduard Limonov, founder of the National Bolshevik Party, a banned radical group, his aide Alexander Averin told AFP by telephone from a bus where they were being held. It was not immediately clear what happened to Kasparov. Hundreds of police filled the area around Triumfalnaya Square ahead of the planned demonstration, surrounding it with trucks and metal barriers. Kasparov and his allies had vowed to hold the Dissenter's March there to protest what they view as Putin's undemocratic policies, despite not receiving police permission. Ahead of the arrests, a spokesman for the Moscow police told the Interfax news agency that authorities would be "tough but lawful" in dealing with the unsanctioned protest. The retired officers were detained as they prepared to head toward the Dissenter's March, an AFP photographer said. Kasparov's website reported that they included retired general Alexei Fomin, head of a group called the Union of Soviet Officers, which had gathered to mark the anniversary of the Decembrist uprising of 1825, a revolt led by officers against Tsar Nicholas I. About 10 people were detained at a parallel Dissenter's March held in Saint Petersburg, an AFP journalist witnessed. Some 300 people gathered in the northern city to chant slogans including "No to the Amendments," referring to proposed constitutional amendments that would extend presidential terms from four years to six. "What is happening in this country is a catastrophe," said Alexander, an engineer who attended the protest. Sunday also saw a police-sanctioned protest of about 100 people in central Moscow organized by The Right Cause, a liberal party created last month with Kremlin approval after a merger of three other parties." It is so easy to dissent when you have nothing to lose; in Russia, you cannot disagree with the government without expecting to be detained, possibly arrested, possibly fined, and possibly beat up. Ciao.

Back at the Ranch

Well, as people get used to the recent turn of events and forthcoming changes, the market is down a little bit more - just where I like it. It will hover around 8500 for a while then start to shoot back up. Buy 100,000 shares of anything conservative. Don't get into any penny stocks - too risky right now. In six months, you can reinvest some of your profits in some cheap, high-risk stuff, just for fun. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it appears Putin wants to get back in the driver's seat some time in the future. Communism may have changed, but totalitarianism sure hasn't. That's not him to the left, by the way. That's someone else - from another time and place - Angela, an opera singer. Ciao.